The $500 Cable [IS NO MORE]

UPDATE: Amazon has removed the listing in a bout of shame and remorse. I'm dying for more detail, but the Internets have yet to report on the situation.

This whole affair is Internet gold. Denon, probably bought by Monster (notorious for price-gouging) is selling this "Dedicated Link Cable" on Amazon.com. I've highlighted the biggest selling points.

Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Get the purest digital audio you've ever experienced from multi-channel DVD and CD playback through your Denon home theater receiver with the AK-DL1 dedicated cable. Made of high-purity copper wire, it's designed to thoroughly eliminate adverse effects from vibration and helps stabilize the digital transmission from occurrences of jitter and ripple. A tin-bearing copper alloy is used for the cable's shield while the insulation is made of a fluoropolymer material with superior heat resistance, weather resistance, and anti-aging properties. The connector features a rounded plug lever to prevent bending or breaking and direction marks to indicate correct direction for connecting cable.

All of that sounds like serious business to me. Denon equipment is used in Ball State University's TCOM department--a college major program that doesn't screw around. So this must be for some professional studio setup, right? Let's take a closer look:

If that looks familiar to you, there's a good reason: it's the exact same size, shape, and internal wiring as an Ethernet cable. It is an Ethernet cable. This is the exact same thing you would use to plug your laptop or desktop computer into your local network or cable modem. And somehow, Denon thought they would slip under the radar and charge some rich sucker a 5000% markup.

As you can imagine, the Interbutt didn't sit quietly. Take a look at the Amazon.com listing. Particularly interesting are the user comments and user tags. REMOVED

My review is still up for now.


BUT WAIT!

Thanks to the magic of Google cache, the page is still in existence. Enjoy!